It was quiet here at Chez Boca (notwithstanding the aforementioned
banging outside the window). Bunny and I spent the evening making fresh
ravioli (using the pasta machine she received as a gift) and then watching
“Hancock” (an enjoyable flick
and a rather refreshing take on the superhero genre).

The pasta was easy but a bit tedious and messy. The recipe for the pasta
is easy enough—100g of flour (about ½ cup for the metrically
challenged) and one egg per person, then mixed and kneaded into a dough (we
did enough pasta for four people, and did the mixing in a food
processor—total time, maybe 30 seconds). Then just feed the dough through
the pasta machine, a few times on the widest setting, then start cranking it
down to make it thinner.

This, by far, was the longest step in the process, mostly because this
was the first time either one of us has ever made fresh pasta. The recipe
we were following came from Jamie Oliver and on his show he had the pasta made and cut in like two
minutes flat.

But he's a professional—we're not. So it took a bit longer—say,
twenty-two minutes (getting used to fresh pasta dough, the pasta machine,
etc).

Once that was done, we used a ravioli cutter that Bunny had—a two piece
affair. You lay a strip of pasta over the lower section:

Then you press this dimpled shaped upper section into the dough, which
forms the depressions, which you then spoon the filling into (in this case,
it's fresh mozzarella, fresh basil and some tomato sauce).

Brush some water around the edges (to act as a kind of glue), drape
another piece of pasta, and use a roller to seal and cut the raviolis. Then
pop them out of the frame, and cook for five minutes in boiling water.

I personally was curious about the cutting attachment, so with the scraps
of pasta, I made some spaghetti.

I'm sure with practice, it'll go quicker.

And not quite as messy.

Hmm … if I'm not careful, this might turn into a cooking blog [not that there's anything wrong with that!
—Editor].

Obligatory Miscellaneous

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